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This is an excerpt from a previous post regarding conservation and a new, exciting idea which needs to be its own topic. This project will need a lot of support and work to accomplish but I believe it would be very worthwhile. We need to know where people stand on this issue. I hope all will weigh in with their thoughts on a National Collection and maybe our esteemed members Tamlin and Bugweed can elaborate. - PAK
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By Tamlin:

Hi Finch, Bugweed, and hopefully the thousands of readers looking at this post:

Conservation can be seen in different ways.

Most of what we see as conservation depends on conserving the actual habitat where there plants grow, but there is also another strategy which aims at the conservation of biodiversity through Stewardship.

This is what we do as "good growers" of these plants. Mike King in the UK is a sterling example of what a dedicated grower can achieve, if they are willing to. Mike has a fantastic collection of Sarracenia, which he maintains at his personal expense. In such a collection, meticulously maintained and identified, lies the hope of the future.

I read the listserve debate, and Barry's lose/lose proposal. As it now stands, it's true. If we field collect, we place the plants in jeapordy. If we don't field collect, we have the horror of watching these plants get plowed under.

I personally feel that there is just no way that our officials are going to act. In this, they are no more guilty than we are for not raising a collective hue and cry DEMANDING that something be done. There are just too few of us to have clout. Sadly, money will always be the bottom line in these matters of habitat conservation.

What is needed is for there to be a NEW REVOLUTION of the People. We need a new Botanical Constitution: of the people and for the people.

Imagine for a moment, a National Collection of, say Sarracenia species (since these populations are being hit the hardest).
This collection could attempt to conserve biodiverse forms of these plants, much as Mike is doing in the UK.

If enough Sarracenia Growers banded together to form a National Collection, and sought to actively reproduce, increase and most importantly to share this material, this would at least offer some hope to the future.

Such conserved (and diverse) material would then be available for future (and hopefully more wise) CPers, both for their delight, and hopefully for eventual reintroduction. The problem with nurseries producing and selling from TC, is the diversity is shrinking even as the number of plants are increasing. We need that precious variability, and it is being lost to attrition.

If there could be a fusion between dedicated growers, and the scientific community who know where these populations are located, a sensitive one time collection from habitat could be made. This is in essence "putting it in the bank". This would be a true investment.

With the formation of such a dedicated body, there is a chance that it might find financial backing, grow, and become a resource of incomparable value. This is a win/win scenario. Even if the plants are lost in habitat, at least there is some chance that the genetic diversity will not fall to that sad fact.

This is conservation too, but it would require a fusion of many diverse elements in CP society.

Barry as argued against publicizing location data for these populations, in favor of allowing the plants to continue their tentative existence undisturbed. I too, favor this approach, but not until we have the material "in the bank". After this, there is no need for folk to make further collections. The material can be reproduced and distributed.

Benefits to the "little guy" would be immense. After all, these are OUR plants, and we should have every right to protect them as out conscience dictates. The fact remains that these populations simply can't take the impact of repeated collections. We can't all of us go out with this idea, and try to form our own "NAtional Collection". This is what is going on now. People WANT to steward these plants, and it is right and proper that they do.

We need to UNITE, and work with each other to do this work. Ego and profit motivation needs be set aside for the greater good. One for all, and all for One. The days when one could feel good about being the guy with the biggest collection should end, and this as soon as possible. If the plants are to survive, they must do so through the mechanisms of love and sharing.

I suggest as well, that when we talk about making a field collection, taking plants from their habitats, that this is an issue of personal LIBERTY, and as such, we also need a CONSTITUTION which will apply, without exclusivity, to ALL.
Nor is this "Ntional Collection" limited to only the U.S. We have the tools now in place to launch a concerted world wide effort on behalf of these plants we all love so dearly. These plants do not belong to the U.S. They belong to the world. Let there be no exclusivity: when it comes to the love of these plants, we are all a NATION.

We have now come to the plants darkest hour. We need a luminary to come forth, a leader. What is Don Schnell doing these days? He could be the George Washington of such a work, lend prestige to such a UNION. I can think of many other NAMES who's support could make such a work possible: folk that have been growing (and loving) these plants for all their long lives. The Great Wise Ones - and you know who you are! Let them sign the CONSTITUTION. I am only one small voice, and although I try to make a difference, I am not eternal. Nor is Don Schnell. We need to inspire another generation to take up this cause, but first WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING to inspire them, instead of crying into our pitcher plants, and flopping out hands about uselessly in the air!

The ICPS has been drifting in this direction as well as evidenced by their distribution program of several rare Sarracenia species last year. We have the resources of international forums, and CP Societies all easily reachable by internet communication. The tools are present. The need is evident. The skills are in place. We are UNITED in our common love for these species.

All that lacks is the spark.

SO, all you Sarracenia Growers with the BIG LISTS of meticulously recoreded and maintained collection data, THIS is what you have been saving that data for! Here is a purpose and a vindication for that rare plant you dug up that time....remember? You said it was to "preserve it". Now I am asking that you back that up with action. Are you willing to send a division to a central place where decicated growers will increase it a hundred times over, and will actively seek placement for it in world collections?

You scientific professionals out there, that have been studying population dynamics, genetic studies, physiology, statistics: you know where our TREASURE lies. Are you willing to collect some of this material, and "put it in the bank", just for once, or will you wait with heavy sighs as you feel the rumble of the dozers? They will come you know, and then for what purpose will your research be for once their subject is extinct?

You growers out there, yearning for these plants: are you willing to study and learn to grow these plants and become a Steward for your children's children? For this is for you: one out of many. Will you say "thank you" by taking up the work?
From what I have seen, I believe you certainly will. Although others have begun this WORK, it will be the little guy that will make all the DIFFERENCE.

You Nursery Growers, commercial dealers, and plant-sale-fund-raiser folk: will you too come aboard, and will you surrender your part of the TREASURE even if it cuts your own profit margins, in the name of the love you bear for these plants? You can hold back the rare plants for supply/demand profiteering, but only consider that right now, while you are still in your skin, you can make a difference in how far these plants are spread. There would be no competition in your lifetime by surrendering your rarest plant....it will take generations of work before there will be enough plants circulating to do that. Once you are Gone, that rare plant may be forgotten and lost. Will you continue to share as you have so often in the past?

I hope you will. All of you. Because I believe in the center of me, that this is the only real chance to conserve what millions of years of Cosmic Artwork has produced: a miracle of unsurpassed beauty and awe.

Please: All in favor say "AYE"

Give me your thought's. Help me make this Forum into the tool it can be. Let this be our Convention Hall, where we draft a "CP CONSTITUTION". Lets define the right's of the PEOPLE, and provide for our posterity by UNITING and forming a WORLD NATIONAL COLLECTION while we still have opportunity to still act, before the curtain falls on our individual (and aging) selves, or on the plants we all love.

Maybe we can't hold back the habitat attrition, but this much at least is possible, and this too is Conservation. Let's make the plants darkest hour into our finest hour!

My thanks to Bugweed who inspired this concept, and to the many others I have spoken with that share it.

"Fox terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs." - Jerome K. Jerome

Go for it guys,
The more people who are aware of this scheme will make conservation the hot topic of your generation. When I was in Florida 18 months aso, we had to drive 70 miles through what was prime Sarracenia country to the next known site.. there is only 2% left of unspoiled haitat in the SE USA...

My god that is horrific. I only wish I was closer in the south to help out. When I had my TV interview on my greenhouse here last year, I did a small segment stressgin conservation to not only CPs in general but other rare plant species like orchids, arums, rare tree species, etc. Most of the bogs up here are protected and people up here are uneducated about the plants, I belive the native name up here is "Devil Drinking Cups" and simply Bug Drowners as stated by one of the old locals.

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Theres a lot of caring people out there, unshure on what to do. They see a situation thats getting worse and worse, and thinking theres nothing they can do to stop it. Or of they do something, they feel its not enough.
The problem is, these things arerínt cute like birds or cuddly like otters.
Lets admit, some of these things kill their prey in pretty gruesome ways!

But other people would also care if they knew what was happening!! You should tell them what the problem is!

Others donít want to join because they think theres nothing that can stop it, no victories for the plants or animals!
There ARE, they just are not heard!
We shouldnít just tell people what is going WRONG, but also whatís been done RIGHT and take hope and strength from that!

I have done reserch about carnivorus plants, and found out that some rare nepenthes in cultivation may be all of one gender in cultivation due to tissue culture! And if the other gender disappears from the wild, its tecnacly extinct!

But donít just tell people that they should despair, many species have been brought back from the brink! But no one today should let those species get to the brink in the first place!

As I said in the previous post, I am in, of course. Always have been. I think folks might want some concrete ideas on what they are being asked to sign up for. I imagine practically everyone on this forum is behind this in theory but are thinking what can I do?

I am hoping that people out there with "locale species" plants and seed start by writing to Carl Mazur, President of the ICPS. I already informed him of what my idea is about. We are already sure that the only stands that will be left in the future will be within the National Forests. I have also voiced my concerns with Donald Schnell, just this past Sunday, and he said it was a big job, but a worthy endeavour. He also feels the plants are as good as gone, so the time is now to act. Saving our CP's, is our prime objective, but other people could also do the same with orchids, or any other plant they wanted to. If we think conservation is only in the wild, then we limit the scope of just what dedicated people can do. As Tamlin mentioned, Stewardship is conservation, too. To bring these plants into cultivation, distribute some of the seed back into their natural home, send seed to growers, and some of the seed for cutivation to release seedlings to the growing CP public is the ideal. And there is no time to lose! Everyday that we sit around thinking someone else is handling it, is not thinking about, that everyday, another patch of CP rich wetland is going under the developers bulldozer blade. The developer can wipe out a whole lot more than a few poachers. And the beauty is, since all the species will eventually be available to the grower, we have collectively knocked the teeth out of the poacher by removing his chief objective----profit!! When all of the bogs out there give up some seed and seedlings, they will become available to all growers. How about oreophila from Town's County, Georgia? Maybe an oreo from Clay County, North Carolina? Perhaps a jonesii from Pickens County, South Carolina? Or Henderson County, North Carolina? Maybe the red variant of sarracenia rubra var. alabamensis, from Autauga County, Alabama. Whatever you want, in seed or seedling. Even though this idea is in its infancy, I hope we can get support from Ozzy, Barry Rice (it doesn't have to be lose-lose Barry) and all the rest of you. We can work it out one step at a time, but quick steps, because time is not a friend to the bogs. No one person holds sway over the plants, they belong to all of us. And no one should ever have exclusivity over the beauty that was put here for every last one of us to love and enjoy. Conservation can be in your back yard too, preserving a legacy for all human beings. What do you say?